London is a great city, and one of my favorite aspects of this trip is the language. A few translations, with the British version first, followed by the American English translation:

1. Mind the gap/Watch your step

2. Rubbish/Trash

3. Spot of bother/annoyance

4. Thundys/Thunderstorms

5. Brolly/Umbrella

6. Black coffee/Espresso without milk or cream (Brewed coffee is not common here. The best coffee shops serve espresso drinks. A few have ``filtered coffee'' listed at the bottom of choices, as an afterthought)

7. Loo/bathroom

8. Lorry/Truck

9. Az-Hume/assume

10. Tube/Subway

11. Good bits/Most attractive portions of the opposite sex

12. Pint/Serving of beer or ale

13. Porridge/oatmeal

In fact, I had porridge just before walking through the rain today, so I'm feeling very Bri'ish.

Also, the English love their adjectives. This is the home of the television series ``Absolutely Fabulous,'' after all.

You hear a lot of ``Brilliant,'' ``Fabulous'', ``Re-Markable,'' ``Absolutely.''

What's really cool is hearing a 3-year-old speaking like Sir John Gielgud. (Google him, youngsters.) This makes the tots sound very mature even when they're screaming for ice cream.

---------------------------------

Love the White Sox's approach on Francisco Liriano: Beat him up, reduce his trade value, scare off other suitors, then trade for him at a reduced price. Brilliant!

---------------------------------

Hearing that the Wolves were the only team willing to give Brandon Roy two years of guaranteed money. I love the addition of Roy to a team desperate for a quality shooting guard, but that's scary, that no other NBA team would give him a second year. Wolves fans have to hope this wasn't another example of David Kahn overreacting to the chance to be associated with a big NBA name.

---------------------------------

I'll be calling in to 1500espn this morning between basketball games, probably at 11:35 or so. Please follow me on Twitter at @Souhanstrib.